Sunday 06/10/07
In every series of the new Doctor Who, there is one episode that makes you go "wow." I mean, they're usually all reasonably fun, especially after years of no Doctor Who at all, but there is always one that rises above the rest, that is really science-fictional in the best ways (sensawunda and all that) and emotionally involving, even touching, without seeming maudlin.
And when you look at the credits, you find it is written by Steven Moffat.
In series one it was the two-parter "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances." In series two, it was "The Girl in the Fireplace." In series three, it is "Blink," which aired this weekend.
At the risk of spoiling this episode a bit, I don't think I've ever been this involved in an episode of Doctor Who in which the titular character has so little screen time and actually plays a supporting role to a previously unknown protagonist. Or been so shocked by monsters that you never actually see moving. As with "The Girl in the Fireplace," a good bit of the episode's cleverness involves time travel, which (despite the fact that the Dcotor travels through time constantly) isn't actually important to the plot as often as you might expect. Like every good time-travel yarn, "Blink" is just confusing enough at the beginning to draw you in, and bit by bit the pieces fall together into a satisfying conclusion. It is also nicely spooky in the classic Whovian behind-the-sofa tradition, and the Eganesque explanation for the bizarre aliens actually makes a good bit more sense than the usual technobabble (a real accomplishment for a throwaway line).
Doing some Googling, I see that this episode is loosely based on a story Moffat wrote for last year's Doctor Who Annual, which the BBC has kindly put online.
It would be kind of cute to see the "other side" of this episode sometime. (It doesn't really need to consume a whole episode, of course.) And dare I say, if they really are planning to replace Martha, as rumors recently claimed, perhaps Sally would be a good choice.
There are undoubtedly perfectly good reasons that Moffat is only writing one or two episodes a season, such as Russell T Davies wanting to write half the eps himself so as to keep the fans from mustering too much enthusiasm for the show (his scripts are generally considered among the least engaging, and that's being kind), but there's really no excuse for the BBC not already having cloned Moffat a dozen times so he can write every episode.
It has been announced that Moffat's writing a two-parter for the next series. There's also a rumor floating around that Davies is leaving after Season 4 -- actually, the rumor claims that Doctor Who itself will come to an end at that point, as if the BBC would let that happen. If they're smart, they'll give the series to Moffat.
Update: I'm hearing buzz that Moffat has indeed got the job, and that he may be bringing his own Doctor with him.
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